words by mike munzenrider

Cairo Foster has been a consummate pro skateboarder for well over a decade now. And the way he sees it, he won’t be slowing down anytime soon. With his sights set on a new enjoi video, shooting an interview for TransWorld and working on future etnies video projects, it was due time someone catch up with him to see what he’s been up to and what he’s looking forward to as the newest pro on etnies.

How’s the summer going? Summer’s been super hectic. I just moved out of San Francisco and I’m kind of floating right now, doing a lot of traveling—kind of a big enjoi travel push. We haven’t traveled in a while, so we’ve got three or four trips planned this year, which is crazy for the tail end of the year. We’re starting a little late.

In between that, I’m coming back to town to meet up with Mike Manzoori to be involved with his etnies stuff like I was with Aimless.

How much time would you say you spend traveling out of the year?
The last couple of years it’s been around four months out of the year. Now it seems like it’s half the year.

Having been in the game for a good amount of time, do you think you can keep this up?
I think the answer is “yes.” As long as you surround yourself with the right people—other skaters who push you. It’s fun just skating with dudes that rip. I go on RVCA trips and hang out with Leo Romero and sometimes people will be bummed like, “Ah man, Leo can do everything on that rail.” But I don’t think he’s trying to show anyone up, he’s just excited and wants to skate and seize all the potential at each spot.

That’s the type of energy that’s essential for anyone to surround themselves with if they want to keep doing this.

What are you most excited about now that you’re riding for etnies? I think the most exciting thing is the potential there. The brand has been around for 25 years. Pierre [André Senizergues] clearly has a vision for it if he’s been able to keep it around that long. It seems like etnies is his baby and he’s going to keep it around forever.

So with that, there’s infinite potential to travel and create stuff with people like Manzoori and Jon Miner. There’s a really good team involved on the back end, and on the front lines. “Front lines sounds” so ridiculous … but just like, the team that everyone sees. Like Tyler Bledsoe, Kyle Leeper, Jose Rojo, Willow, Ryan Sheckler—all those guys.

There’s definite potential and lots of resources that will allow for us to get the most out of skating.

You’ve got a shoe coming out in the future, have you started the design process? Yeah, I’ve already begun working on it. Everyone at etnies has been helping out with the process and I’ve been really involved with this shoe design, which is a good thing.

How much do you do the nollie hardflip these days? I threw one out at Woodward recently. It was more for the enjoi guys. I don’t really pull it off that often. It pops up to my feet pretty easily, but I gotta give it to P-Rod. The nollie hardflips he does … they’re next level nollie hardflips.